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Lie First, Lie Always: Numbers

Last week at the hearings on the “Constitutional Carry” and “Self-Defense Reform” bill, the clown antics of Ross Derp (or whatever his name was) got the headlines. (Update: It was Ross Koon. I regret the error).

But something even more indicative of the anti-gun, criminal safety movement was buried in the background

But first, a quick factual tangent:

Berg’s Nineteenth Law: It’s time to inaugurate Berg’s Nineteenth Law – one of my list of iron-clad laws of human political behavior. It’s a law because it is always true.

The law reads as follows:

No Minnesota gun control group has ever made, nor will they ever make, a statement of fact that is simultaneously

Substantial

Original, and

True

OK. Back to last Wednesday.

Dubious: Before the hearing, “Protect” MN – the pack of ELCA-coiffed biddies who have “led” Minnesota’s clownish gun control “movement” (speaking physiologically, not politically, here), attempting to undercut the “Constitutional Carry” bill, distributed lists of people who’d been rejected for carry permits to the legislators on the committee.

Erick Lucero, from the solid red Northwest, picked up the narrative:

The organization passed out packets to each representative on the committee that contained names of constituents in their districts who were denied permits. Rep. Lucero’s packet consisted of 61 pages with approximately 15 denials on each page, making a grand total of 915 denials. All of the denials listed Hennepin as the county of denial.

So – nearly a thousand denials in Lucero’s district alone?

Sounds pretty damning!

But…

Lucero quickly noticed a discrepancy.

Lucero’s House District 30B exists almost entirely in Wright County. The only exception is the City of Hanover which is split between Wright County and Hennepin County. Of the 3,200 residents in Hanover, only a quarter reside in the Hennepin County portion.

In other words, “Protect” MN would have you believe that every man, woman and child in the Henco portion of Hanover had applied for a permit and been denied, 1.12 times over. Every liberal exurban anti-gun zealot, every toddler, every man-jack breathing human in the Henco portion of Hanover!

10 thoughts on “Lie First, Lie Always: Numbers”

My rep met with Mom’s demand action, and then plastered it all over Facebook surprisingly. He’s a freshman legistlature from a purple Edina city (Dario Ansalmo). Should I be concerned or is he just using them as props?

Watching Rep. Lucero call out Rev. Nord-Liar before the hearing was over was fantastic. She was quite indignant about it too, which is funny because she used half of her own time attempting to discredit John Lott and his statistics with help from another Rep on the committee.

Given that the denial of a permit is generally for crimes committed, I have to wonder how many permit applicants were prosecuted or otherwise investigated for not being eligible to own, let alone carry, a gun. I remember the Clinton administration bragging on how many “criminals” were denied under the Brady check system, and back in that day the gun rights lobby pointed out that actual criminal investigations were as rare as hen’s teeth. Along the same lines, more recently it came to light that federal prosecutors were not prioritizing gun law violations there–I have to wonder if the names of those in the defendant’s chair would be too embarrassing for the former President.

Note sent to Rep. Lucero and GOCRA with this thought. Unless it’s legal to release these records, Protect Minnesota is discredited–either by making things up or by releasing private records. If there is anything to these records, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office isn’t looking so smart, either–as they would be the source, and the ones to fail to prosecute.

Not popping the popcorn yet, but if there is anything to this, to could be fun.

I suggest that anyone who is categorically denied a carry or firearm permit also be categorically the right to vote or to register to vote. This would be anyone who has a protective order, anyone under age 21, anyone who has been convicted of assaulting a family or household member, anyone on the criminal gang investigation list, anyone who has failed a background check for criminal history or mental health history,
Also, they should lose their right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
Can’t be too careful when it comes to health and safety and voting!